Independent assurance policy

Independent assurance, certification and audit activities

Approach

Ricardo delivers independent assurance, certification and audit activities via various parts of its business. These services must be conducted with the highest degree of integrity and independence required by the industries and clients we serve.

Rail sector

Ricardo is engaged in the delivery of independent assurance services, many of which are accredited/appointed by national authorities and which can have a direct impact on the safe operation of the railway. It understands this responsibility, which is evidenced by the implementation of systems and its establishment of a separate brand and legal entities under Ricardo Certification.

All Ricardo Certification's activities are undertaken with due regard to impartiality, independence and confidentiality. Our internal certification processes have been written to ensure that the outcome of our Independent Assurance activities is totally objective and not influenced by vested interests, financial incentives, timescale pressures or other sources of potential conflict.

Our Independent Assurance projects use engineers from a shared resource pool which has the major advantage of ensuring that they are fully conversant with railway engineering developments. However, certification decisions are made by designated decision makers who have contractual agreements with the accredited legal entity. Our internal project control specifically require the review, identification and control of any conflicts that may arise at a personal, project or company level.

Unless specifically permitted by the relevant standards (and still coming under our internal requirements of impartiality and independence), Ricardo personnel will not undertake Technical Consultancy on work that Ricardo Certification certifies, or vice versa.